Incredible beaches, charming small towns and the most delicious food. Italy truly has it all! It’s one of those places that you see in pictures and movies and it’s just as incredible in person! There is so much culture, history and so many beautiful places to see. Here is our ultimate 2 week Italy itinerary that can easily be adapted for more or less time and how we did it all without renting a car!
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There is so much to see in Italy that you could spend years exploring all of the charming small towns. We spent 2 amazing weeks visiting beaches, cities and everything in between! This itinerary can easily be adapted if you have less time or stretched out for a lot longer depending on how much time you have.
How to Get Around Italy
Italy is actually quite big so you will have travel days getting from one place to another. Renting a car gives you flexibility but driving on some of those teeny tiny roads is not an easy feat! So we opted for a much easier option. Taking trains in Italy is so easy and meant we never had to worry about driving or parking!
Trenitalia is the main train operator in Italy. You can buy train tickets online on their website or at any train station in Italy. We traveled around Europe with our Eurail Global Passes for 3 months and had such an amazing experience! With the Eurail Pass we could get on any train we wanted and had so much flexibility. The global pass meant we could take however many trains we wanted during our 3 months in Europe.
- So when we left our camera cover in Monterosso in Cinque Terre we took 2 trains to go back and get it (luckily we did find it!) and didn’t have to worry about paying for the extra rides!
Read More: Complete Guide to Traveling with a Eurail Pass
Days 1-4: Venice
Venice is such a unique city that you have to spend a few days there while you’re in Italy! We loved just walking around across all the different bridges and seeing all the old architecture.
We stayed on the mainland in Venice Mestre and would highly recommend it if you’re looking for a more budget friendly option! Staying right in Venice can get really expensive. The train takes about 10 minutes to go from the Venice Mestre train station to the Venice Santa Lucia train station. You can also take the bus as well and both run regularly so you don’t have to worry about getting back and forth.
- If you’re flying to Italy the closest airport is Marco Polo Airport which is about 8 kilometers from Venice.
Make sure to spend some time just wandering through Venice! Our favorite neighborhood was Santa Croce near the train station. There were almost no other people especially compared to how crowded the area around St. Mark’s Square can be. We found so many beautiful bridges and were able to take some amazing pictures there!
If you want to do a little bit more consider taking a day trip to Burano Island. You need to take the ferry but it’s really easy to figure out. Burano Island is known for its bright houses and lacemaking shops. Walking through the bright houses feels like you’re somewhere else completely because it’s so different from Venice!
A good spot to end the night is along the water in the Dorsoduro neighborhood. The Rio de S. Trovaso had such a likely feel with lots of people eating and drinking outside. Continue walking to the water and we were able to catch an incredibly colorful sunset over the canal!
Read More: 10 Things To Do in Venice, Italy
Days 5-8: Lake Garda
Lake Garda is located in northern Italy and is considered one of the most beautiful lakes in the country. It’s incredibly clear water and surrounding mountains make it a top place to visit! You can take the train from Venice Mestre to the Peschiera del Garda train station in about 1 hour and 15 minutes so it’s really quick and easy!
Sirmione sits on very thin peninsula that extends into Lake Garda and is a beautiful small town! There you can find so many accommodation options from high end resorts to more budget friendly places off the peninsula.
- We stayed on the mainland and it took us about 50 minutes to walk to the tip of Sirmione. It was such a beautiful walk along the lake that we were so glad we did it!
You definitely want to spend some time exploring the town area of Sirmione. There are some touristy high end shops but it is so much more than that! The small pedestrian only streets feature classic Italian architecture on such a beautiful setting.
- The Rocca Scaligera (or Scaligera Castle) sits on Lake Garda giving it amazing views from the top! Tickets to explore the inside of the castle are 6 Euros per person! We don’t usually pay entrance fees for things like that but Dave really wanted to take pictures from the top and we ended up really enjoying it! If you go at the end of the day it’s not crowded at all! We went in the late afternoon and practically had the place to ourselves.
Travel Truth: If you don’t want to pay the entrance fee but still want a good view of the castle head to Spiaggia Grifone. This small beach is on the back of the castle and gives you views of both the tower and castle wall.
Read More: Travel Guide to Visiting Sirmione on Lake Garda, Italy
Days 9-14: Italian Riviera
The Italian Riviera is the section of coastline from the French border down to La Spezia. It is a beautiful stretch of Italy featuring some of the most incredible beaches. It is not a part of the country you want to miss! From Lake Garda you can take the train to Milan in just over 1 hour and then from Milan to Rapallo is just over 2 hours. So you can get from Lake Garda to the Italian Riviera in a little over 3 hours!
There you’ll find popular spots such as Cinque Terre and Portofino where you can explore colorful villages along the coast. You can do a lot in this area with just a few days so it isn’t to be overlooked!
- We stayed in Rapallo which is between Portofino and Cinque Terre and loved it! It’s a beautiful town along the water and allowed us to explore an area that felt so authentic! It was easy to take the train to take day trips to other places nearby but was still affordable.
Read More: 4 Day Guide to Visiting the Italian Riviera
Cinque Terre is made up of five beautiful villages set along the Italian Riviera. Because they’re so well known now and because they are also physically small villages, staying in one of the villages can be very expensive which is why we stayed in Rapallo. But they are popular for a reason!
- You can see all 5 villages in a day trip although it will be a long day. Our favorite village was Vernazza because it has so many amazing view points looking over all the colorful buildings!
- If you want to watch the sunset head to Manarola! There is a spot where you can see the sunset illuminate the entire village. This is a really popular spot to go for sunset and it’s definitely worth visiting!
Read More: Day Trip to Cinque Terre
Portofino is another beautiful village to visit along the Italian Riviera! While Cinque Terre is south of Rapallo, Portofino is slightly north. You can take the train from Rapallo to Santa Margherita Ligure. Portofino sits at the tip of the small peninsula so from there you can take the bus to the village. I promise it’s really easy to do! The bus leaves from the train station so you don’t even need to walk anywhere.
- Head to see the boats in the harbor in Portofino. Then walk up to the Chiesa di San Giorgio which is a church that sits up overlooking the Portofino harbor. This is one of the most beautiful views of the entire village!
- If it’s hot and you’re looking for a spot to go swimming Baia Connone (or Cannon Bay) is a beautiful swimming spot close to Portofino! There’s a bus stop at the top of the stairs that will take you back to the train station also!
- We threw our packable towels in our daypack and we’re so glad we did when we stumbled upon this spot! We couldn’t believe how beautiful this small beach was!
Read More: Day Trip to Portofino for Under $25
Days 14-16: Rome
If this is your first trip to Italy then you can’t leave without a quick visit to Rome. From Rapallo to Rome is about a 5 hour train ride. You could leave early in the morning and be there with the rest of the afternoon to explore!
- If you’ve already been to this historic city or don’t have enough time you could easily end your trip and fly out of Genoa Airport about an hour from Rapallo. That would make it almost exactly 2 weeks if you don’t quite have enough time for longer.
If historical sights are your preferred activity you might want to dedicate more time to the city of Rome. We spent one day exploring all the highlights of Rome and were able to see so much! So it definitely can be done on a short timeline!
Read More: How to See Rome in a Day
Start your day in the Vatican City. St. Peter’s Square is huge and the architecture is seriously incredible! St. Peter’s Basilica is free to enter so if you’re on a budget this is a great way to see a famous site without spending money. You may have to wait in line but the line moved really fast when we were there.
- Ladies make sure you have something to cover your legs if you’re going inside! I brought this scarf and wore it around my waist. It’s thin and so easy to toss inside our daypack. Then at night it also doubles as a shawl when it got cooler!
The Trevi Fountain is beautiful and worth seeing especially if it’s your first visit to Rome, however, expect it to be really crowded! No, really, it was one of the most crowded locations we saw in all of Europe. If you want it to yourself then you need to go really early in the morning! Otherwise there will be large groups of people and sometimes it’s hard to actually get down close to the fountain.
You definitely don’t want to miss the Colosseum! We walked from the Trevi Fountain to the Colosseum in about 30 minutes and it was a really nice walk through the city past the Altar della Patria or Altar of the Fatherland. We spent the late afternoon admiring the Colosseum from all the sides.
- You can pay to take a tour to go inside, however, it is not cheap and needs to be booked ahead of time especially during the busier months.
If you have more time you could spend longer in one of these places or consider heading to the east coast of Italy. Although it’s not as popular as so many of the destinations as the west coast, it is absolutely beautiful! We spent about a week in Monopoli down in the boot of Southern Italy and loved the charm it had!
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